Diner Dash 5: Boom! Game Review

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It's been 5 years since the launch of the Diner Dash series, and the developers are celebrating by releasing Diner Dash 5: Boom! This action-packed time management game features the tenacious Flo as she attempts to set up diners in various locations all over town. Help her earn enough money to rebuild and redesign her restaurant, which was blown up by her nemesis Mr. Big!

The story of Diner Dash 5: Boom begins with our hero Flo completing a sign for a fat-free breakfast at her restaurant. In the middle of the night, her nemesis Mr. Big sabotages her and erases the word "fat" from her sign, making people think she is offering a free breakfast! By morning, there is a huge crowd waiting outside Flo's restaurant for their breakfast. And in true cartoon-style, the whole place goes boom from the sheer number of people!

With her diner now in ruins, Flo must find a way to earn enough money to revive her business. She does so by setting up makeshift diners all over town and using the profits to slowly redesign and rebuild her original restaurant. Her ventures will take her to weird and interesting places: from the park, to an alleyway, to a shopping strip and more!

The gameplay in Diner Dash 5: Boom is a huge improvement over its predecessors. No longer does the game involve merely seating your customers and serving them. Many new tweaks and mechanics have been added to give it a fresh feel and more challenge. For starters, there is a new produce cart that diners can access for their greens (which will require more micro-management).

There are also new customer types that interact with people around them, such as the attorneys who argue and take longer to finish if you seat them next to other attorneys. There are also clowns that hypnotize other diners around them and making them eat slower (though I personally think the clowns should be able to throw pies at other diners and start a food fight!).

Since Flo is setting up makeshift diners all over town, you will be playing in different locations with different furnishings and layout. You will even have to manage diners who are seated on a balcony or fire escape. So how do you serve meals to the grannies seated on the fire escape? With a trampoline of course! There are also new weather mechanics that add a fair bit of realism to the game. When it starts to rain, you have to scramble to set up umbrellas over all the tables. And when it gets windy, be prepared to hold down the tablecloths to prevent them from being blown away!

The developers for Diner Dash 5: Boom created the perfect story with Flo having to set up temporary diners in various locations across town. This created a seamless way of introducing different locations with different layouts to the game, preventing players from becoming bored playing the same setup again and again. Certain chapters in the story also take away some of your upgrades in order to make them more challenging.

Another feature unique to this game is that you can actually design the final level of your game! As you progress through the various chapters in Diner Dash 5, you will be able to buy upgrades that make you more efficient or give your customers some benefits. In addition to that, you will also be able to buy new upgrades and furniture for your original restaurant which you are rebuilding. Controlling the design of your restaurant means you get to basically design a game level for your own playing pleasure. This also means that no two games will be alike.

Diner Dash 5: Boom is fortunately not a simple rehash to milk a great series. It introduces a lot of unique and interesting mechanics to keep the game fresh and appealing. It is a great package in terms of both its gameplay as well as the artistic values, from story and artwork through to its soundtrack.

You can get the Basic Edition here, or you can get the Diner Dash 5: Boom Collector's Edition which includes exclusive bits such as more levels, a strategy guide, concept art, screensavers and more!

Rating: 4.5/5.0  

Watch a demo video of the game!

 Download Diner Dash 5: Boom! onto your computer

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